


Pursuant Legacy

by CrownedinIvy



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Robin (Comics)
Genre: Abuse, Bad Parent Jack Drake, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Death won't stop Jason, F/M, Gotham City is a terrible place to live, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, New Vigilante in Gotham, She's also the best, no beta we die like jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:21:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26277820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrownedinIvy/pseuds/CrownedinIvy
Summary: In which the stalker becomes the prey. MCU of Gotham has been working a serial kidnapping case for the last 3 weeks, but whose first victim went missing almost 6 months ago. The commissioner finally decides to bring Batman onto the case when the 8th boy goes missing.Batman is determined to locate these missing boys but is meeting resistance from the other members of his family. Not because they don’t want him to solve the case, but because they’re trying to keep him from finding out about the new tags popping up all over the Narrows and Crime Alley.
Relationships: background Dick Grayson/Barbara Gordon
Comments: 10
Kudos: 71





	1. The Past is Prologue

Cassandra was panicking. This was not a normal state for Batgirl at all, but she was definitely panicking. And Steph. Did. Not. Understand.

"It's just some graffiti! It's not even that original!" She yelled into the comm Cassandra had given her. Tim was on the line at the moment so she could get away with yelling. And Batgirl was freaking out. Stephanie was fairly certain that Cassandra in a panic was the equivalent of the four horsemen showing up. 

"Do you have any idea what upset her?" Tim sighed on the other end. Stephanie rolled her eyes at his long-suffering. Tim was so dramatic when he hadn’t slept in a few days. 

"It's a picture of a crow bar with the words 'Jason Todd was Here’" Stephaine answered. The line went silent for a full 15 seconds. “Tim?”

“Don’t do anything until I get there!!” Tim’s voice had jumped an octave. “Seriously Steph don’t touch anything, don’t call Oracle, just try to calm down Batgirl.”

Then he hung up. Stephanie huffed and went back over to where Cassandra seemed to be having mini seizures, twitching every few moments. So Stephanie did the only thing she could think of: start rambling. When Tim arrived 10 minutes later, Cassandra had finally stopped twitching and seemed less panicky, but Tim stared at the graffiti for exactly 7 seconds--Stephanie counted--before he found his voice.

“So this is definitely new graffiti; I was here last week and this wasn’t here then,” Tim said, his voice tense. “And we need to get rid of this now. Batman  _ cannot _ see this.”

“Why?” Stephanie asked, and to her surprise Cassandra answered rather than Tim. 

“Jason’s dead.”


	2. 10:64 Message for Local Delivery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All of the not crooked cops in Gotham has a strong desire for alcohol. All three of them.

Detective Cris Allen wasn’t an alcoholic like many other members of the Gotham police force, but he desperately wanted a drink right then. 6 months,the first kid had gone missing 6 effing months ago and nobody had noticed a damn thing. 

“I need a drink,” Montoya said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “I hate Gotham.”

“Yeah, how the hell did missing persons’ not put together this pattern?” Cris demanded of no one in particular. 

“Because unfortunately the precinct in that part of town is notoriously overworked,” answered the commissioner. Cris spilled his coffee; he hadn’t heard him come up.

“You’re spending too much time with the bats, Boss,” Montoya said, the briefest smile on her lips. “This case is a freaking nightmare.”

“Speaking of bats, you both are working late tonight.” 

_ Damn _ , thought Cris,  _ there goes my plans for drinking these pictures out of my brain _ . 

* * *

Cris glared out at the city from the roof of the precinct. Not just anyone got brought up here, but Cris would rather have to deal with an Arkham breakout than have to tell Batman about this case. While Montoya and Gordon were both pretty close to the Bat, as close as anyone could get, Cris really thought there was a possibility that this was the man’s fault. The evidence was circumstantial, but pretty damning all the same. 

“Commissioner, Detectives.” The low grumble of the vigilante’s voice came from behind Cris and sent shivers up his spine. “I take it there’s a problem.”

“Missing persons’ case,” Montoya said. “That’s persons, plural possessive. Eight missing kids in the last 6 months, nobody put the pattern together until now because the boys were all taken from juvenile detention-pick-up or straight off the streets in Park Row. MP sent it up the ladder just yesterday.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t put this case to you,” Gordon said, when Montoya had shot him a look. “But Detective Allen noticed something disturbing found in all the boys’ personal affects.”

“Pictures of Robin,” Cris said, doing his best to stay angry and hide the fear he felt facing the Batman. “Old pictures, when the kid was wearing the leotard and booties. All of the pictures had a number 1 or 2 written on the back. The--”

“The pictures found in the juvenile detention had the number one, while the Crime Alley kids had the number two,” Batman said, his voice somehow even harder than before. He looked at the Commissioner a for second before going back to the file and continued speaking. “The first Robin spent time in that juvenile detention center and the second was homeless in Park Row for several years.”

The Commissioner let out a low whistle and Montoya swore. Cris couldn’t believe it; he’d always assumed that Robin--and he thought there might have been 2 Robins in total, not 3 as Batman was implying--was Batman's kid. If that wasn’t the case, then what the hell was Batman thinking making a juvenile delinquent and a homeless kid superheroes!

“So what, someone's targeting potential Boy Wonders?” Montoya voiced what had just occurred to Cris.

“Unlikely,” said Batman as he handed the file back to the Commissioner. “Position is filled. More likely someone is trying to antagonize Nightwing, though he hasn’t been to Gotham in the last 7 months on business.”

“On Business?” Cris couldn’t help himself; he had to know what that meant. Surprisingly it was the Commissioner who answered him. 

“Nightwing trains the younger heroes occasionally, and if I’m not mistaken recently had a birthday so he could have been in town visiting family.” 

“We’ll be in touch,” said Batman, but Cris no longer saw him. The man had melted into the shadows and vanished into the night. Now it was Cris’s turn to swear.

* * *

Batman rarely went straight to Oracle with a case. Any case, even the most difficult ones, he usually started by doing his own research. Eventually Oracle would either swoop in or Batman would demand (see: beg for) her assistance with a case, but rather than fall into his normal routine, Batman went straight to the watchtower. 

“Barbara,” he called as he entered through the window and found her desk unoccupied. 

“Just a second,” Barbara called from her bedroom. Bruce glanced at the trace running on the main screen. Apparently, Dick had Barbara helping him with the weapons smuggling in west Bl üd haven. Bruce had to suppress a smirk; Dick was perfectly capable of running his own trace, he’d just wanted an excuse to call Babs. 

Barbara rolled into the room, her hair loose around her face rather than tied up in its usual loose bun. She had on a tank top and a pair of lounge pants and Bruce felt a twinge of guilt for waking her. He knew exactly how valuable sleep could be in their line of work and he was almost certain that neither he nor Barbara would be getting any until this case was solved. 

“I need you to pull up case 13519.07 from GCPD,” Batman said and hesitated for a fraction of a second before he continued. “It may have some connection to Dick.”

Barbara gave a sharp inhale, but didn’t say anything. Bruce heard the faintest shuffle from the bedroom and had to suppress the smirk again. Dick wasn’t his son in any traditional sense, but Dick was definitely his kid and Bruce felt a lot less guilty interrupting Barbara’s night.

“So, someone’s targeting kids who are in the same situation as Dick and Jason just before they each became Robin.” Barbara was summarizing the case aloud so that Dick would hear what was going on and stay in the other room. “So this would be someone who knows. Deathstroke is on the loose at the moment, but I don’t know why he’d include Jay, unless you were the target rather than Dick.”

“Or Tim,” Batman grunted. He hadn’t really thought of Deathstroke, but he would at least be a possibility. “Any word on Ra’s, recently? Mind games are more up his alley, than Deathstroke.”

“Nightwing would disagree with you, but no, nothing new from the League. That said there’s nothing to suggest Deathstroke, outside his vendetta. I’d tell you to flip a coin, but then you’d start considering Two-Face,” Oracle answered. And with that it was time to reveal his hand. “The other option is we’re looking at someone new. A robin fanatic, who not only noticed that there were two Robin’s who wore the pixie boots, but who also put together that Dick spent time in juvie and Jason on the streets. 

“Nightwing, would you be willing to do the leg work for the League? I’ll look into Deathstroke, so we won’t push either into acting against us,” Batman asked aloud. “I’ll put Tim on the stalker angle since he has some prior experience there.”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. Dammit! How’d you know I was here?” 

* * *

Jalen Scotts was sitting on the steps of his building, squeezing his nose in an attempt to stem the blood flow. He knew being outside at this time of night was an invitation to get snatched in this part of town, but it was better than being inside. He lived with his mom and her boyfriend/dealer and anything was better than being in there. Jalen would run away if he thought there was anywhere he could go. 

“Hey kid.” Jalen looked over and did a double take. There was a man in a red domino mask and tattered leather jacket. He was holding helmet stylized with a beautiful golden bird over the red.

“Name’s Phoenix, you want to get out here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess whose got 2 thumbs, 2 co-workers out for an indeterminate amount of time, and a caseload of 125% capacity? (It's me, did you miss me?)
> 
> The police codes for the chapter titles are taken from the form the State of California posted, because it was easier than fact checking and hunting down the New Jersey codes. 
> 
> Time wise this is set post- No Man's Land--because I want Cassandra Cain, and Pre-Tim's tenure on the Teen Titans cause I want Dick leading the Titans and Tim running Young Justice. DC Comics cannon is a dumpster fire and I'm going diving here. Someone needs to lend me a fire extinguisher when I'm done.
> 
> Wash your hands, wear your mask, and for the love of G-D be safe out there.


	3. 10:16 Domestic Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightwing is upstages Batman as world's greatest, Ma Kent is a Saint-In-Progress, and Tim faces his most dangerous enemy.  
> **WARNING: Violence from perspective of abuse victim in 3rd section.**

Nightwing was not in the best mood; being cock-blocked by your surrogate father figure has that effect on people and then having him ruin your plans for the next three days simply added to the effect. It also didn’t help that Nightwing may have slightly overextended himself: He was running the Titans, he was a police officer and a vigilante in Bl üd haven, he ran errands for Babs, and tried to make sure to take Tim and Cassandra out for training/fun once every so often. He couldn’t remember the last time he clocked more than three hours of sleep at any point in the day or eaten something other than cereal. Just thinking about his diet summoned the mental image of Alfred tsking about his health and his mood grew just a little worse with the guilt from worrying the older man. The task at hand was simple enough, though, and if he hurried, Dick would be able to make it back to the manor in time to get 4 glorious hours of sleep and silence the Englishman in his head. 

“Come in, Nightwing.” The comm in his ear cackled, Tim’s voice seemed oddly tense. “Please adjust the course. Batgirl and Spoiler are in the middle of a delicate situation off of 2nd street.”

Damn it , Dick thought as he ever so slightly adjusted his course so that he landed on a roof across from said alley. 

“Hey,” Oracle spoke into his ear. “The girls went silent like 15 minutes ago. Your tracker is really close by, can you check on them?”

“I’m across the street, but Robin had requested I change routes to avoid them. They didn’t call this in?” Nightwing answered, his gut churning uneasily. 

“Nope,” Oracle’s voice tensed just a little bit. “Mind getting eyes on the situation?”

Nightwing sighed as he headed down the street before crossing to work his way back to the alley. Looking into the alley, the first thing Nightwing noted was that Robin was there with Spoiler and Batgirl, and there was definitely no one else in the alley with them. In fact, they seemed intent on covering up some graffiti. Flicking through his lense setting, Nightwing inhaled sharply when he saw what the younger vigilantes were covering up. 

“So I get why you didn’t want me seeing this, but why didn’t you tell Oracle?” Nightwing asked as he dropped down. All three kids spun around, guilt and unease radiating off Robin and Batgirl, and defiance from Spoiler. 

“I have no idea what’s going on or why we’ve spent the last week covering up these tags that keep popping up all over Gotham because no one tells me anything!” Spoiler snapped. 

“We didn’t want to upset you guys,” Robin answered with Batgirl nodding along. “If we told Oracle, then Batman would know too, and since we’re so close to the anniversary…”

Nightwing took a deep breath. Robin was right, the more people who knew the more likely it was Batman would find out. Right now Bruce was busy with the kidnappings, which was clearly a new player to Gotham at least, and not thinking about the date. He was aware of it, but until day of, B would keep working because Jason would be personally offended if Bruce didn’t track down those kids. And maybe, just maybe because this case reminded him of Jason, if he solved it before the anniversary then it won’t be as bad this year. 

“Would someone, anyone, like to fill Oracle in on what we’re talking about?” Oracle demanded on all of the comms. Nightwing quickly snapped a photograph and sent it.

“Okay,”Oracle said after a solid minute of radio static. “So I’m running a comparison to all the known artists and scrubbing the system of this, because Batman can never find out about this, which is probably why you were keeping it from me. Any other spots so we can figure out if there’s a pattern?”

Robin rattled off the other locations and Oracle marked them on the map. They lined up perfectly with Jason’s life. The apartment building his mother had lived in, the alley he met Bruce, and the warehouse where a then homeless Jason Todd had camped out for the winter. Nightwing felt cold as he made the connections, then swore. 

“Oracle, I think this tagger is our kidnapper.”

* * *

The next night, Batman followed up on a very different lead for the kidnapping case. Oracle had noticed that of the 8 missing kids, one kid had had an active social media presence. Of course the police had missed it because it was an account on Tumblr and the boy had a Tracfone with no apps. It had taken Bruce and Barbara 7 hours combing through security footage from the library the boys were allowed in to do homework. Surprisingly enough, the kid ran a Titans fan blog. Batman would have sent Nightwing if he wasn’t planning on bringing in Robin in the case, since nothing had panned out on either Deathstroke or Ra’s.

As much as it galled him, Batman had called Superman and together they were going to meet Devon. The only reason they were going together was because Alfred and Martha Kent conspired once every two weeks over the phone or tea. Anything to make their “not-blood-but-still-your-parent” happy, Bruce reasoned. And while they didn’t chat on the way, they had a few minutes to catch up waiting for Martha and Devon to arrive. Clark liked to gossip and Bruce liked to hear what other people thought about him. The “Batman is a vampire” was circulating again and it always brought the not-quite-a-smile to Bruce’s lips. 

“Sorry we’re late,” Martha said when she and Devon arrived. “Had a blown out tire and Devon here had never learned how to change one. Devon, whenever you’re ready, go ahead and tell Batman how you got to Smallville.”

“Yeah, Mrs. K,” Devon answered, but he was kind of distraught. Batman noticed he kept looking at his shoes. No, not the shoes, the laces, apparently Devon had been getting initiated into a gang back in Gotham.

“I’m not here to take you back, Devon,” Batman reassured the boy, but he felt Superman tense at that. “I just need to know who took you from the Detention center and how you got to Smallville. We believe your kidnapper is also involved in several other--”

“He didn’t kidnap me!” Devon interrupted, but promptly turned pale. He looked over at Mrs. Kent who nodded before he continued. “Look I get that Phoenix legally kidnapped me, but like he said it was my choice.”

“Phoenix?” Superman asked. Batman wasn’t aware of a Phoenix operating out of Gotham. He knew of a doctor Phoenix who was involved in drug running in New York, but kidnapping wasn’t in his repertoire. 

“Yeah, Phoenix, like the bird. I said flamebird made more sense, but he said that Flamebird was supposed to be Nightwing’s partner and that he didn’t go for guys,” Devon shrugged. “He said that I was supposed to go to a group home in Old Gotham, but there were 12 other guys there already and a bunch from the tigers. I really didn’t want to die so when he said I could come with him and that he’d set me up somewhere else.”

“At first he took me to my Aunt’s but she said she couldn’t take me. I knew it was ‘cause I was joining up and she didn’t want Jessie getting hurt. The guys I ran with weren’t good to girls. That pi-” Devon cut himself off and shot a sheepish glance over to Mrs. Kent, before continuing. “That made him mad. Said family was sacred and he’d have helped my Aunt move to another whole district. But he took me back to an apartment and made me eat dinner. Next morning put me on a bus with Mrs. K’s address and here we are.”

That was not at all what Bruce was expecting. He’d thought the kid had escaped human traffickers or possible been unrelated and just picked a random stop on Amtrak to get off at. There was a new player in Gotham that had managed to fly under Batman’s radar and didn’t seem to be out to hurt the kids he was kidnapping. 

“Can you tell me about the apartment?” Batman asked. 

“It was an apartment, not too nice, but not your standard Gotham slum either. Don’t know where it is though, Phoenix made me wear a blind fold. Oh he also gave me this, said it was Robin’s motto from before he went to Juvie and probably still was. Super cool you gave someone like me a mask too” 

Devon held out an old photograph of Dick’s Robin with some scribbling on the back. Batman didn’t recognize the handwriting, but he knew the words. They were usually written in faded gold on the poster that still hung in the manor.  _ You'll never know if you can fly unless you take the risk of falling. _ __ The slogan of the Flying Graysons. Bruce felt his heart lurch into his chest.

* * *

Just made it , Tim thought to himself as he raced in through the kitchen,  just made it in time for curfew. I’ll grab a few hours of sleep before I head back out, meet Batman and Nightwing at Haggan’s, and start looking for the new guy’s home base, b ut as soon as he finished the thought, Tim stopped dead in his tracks. His bedroom door was open; his bedroom door was never open, but it was now and Tim immediately went to def-con 1. Slowly he entered his room and was greeted by the sight of every drawer opened and dumped on his floor. His father was sitting at his desk waiting for him. 

“Tim, sit down,” his father said. Tim felt his heart racing like it always did when his dad was around. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?” Tim asked scrambling to think of whatever it could be his father was looking for and thanking whatever deity had blessed with the forethought to leave his uniform at the batcave.

“I know you get upset when I leave, Timothy, but this is taking it too far. Where is my passport?” His father asked. 

Tim panicked; the last time he’d actually hidden his parents passports he’d been ten and his dad had locked him in the closet with the water heater for a day. The nanny had let Timm out after his parents were on their way to Yinxu. This time, though he hadn’t done anything. 

“I didn’t take it,” He answered, desperately trying to remember if he’d seen it. “I can help you look for it?”

“No, you’re going to tell me where it is,” his father stood up as he spoke and Tim felt himself shuffle back off his bed. “Now.”

Then everything seemed to happen at once; Tim's ears were roaring, he couldn’t hear anything. He saw his Dad looming over him, when’d he get that belt? And why did Tim’s face hurt. His dad was talking, he needed to pay attention. He needed-

“Drop your weapon and step away from the kid!” A voice cut through noise or silence, Tim wasn’t sure. Something flew past Tim’s ear and hit his dad making him step back. 

“Now!” the voice commanded. It sounded familiar, like the Batman voice, but not quite. “Kid, I need you to come here. Just take a step back, that’s it.”

Tim finally realized why he was feeling so floaty and off.

“I’m gonna pass out,” he gasped as the world vanished to darkness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SORRY!!!  
> Tim's not dead though, and neither is Jack (......yet) We finally get to hear from Phoenix in the next chapter and he has some words for Robin.  
> The next chapter should be up at the end of this week


	4. 10:65 Missing Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Cassandra comes gunning for Bruce's title (And Tim gets a lecture on proper care of Robins)

Barbara was trying to sleep when an alarm went off. It was a very specific alarm that meant there was a police report filed about one of the Bats. She snapped her chair into the upright position and simultaneously called the Batcave and checked the report. 

“Barbara, what’s wrong?” Batman/Bruce--suit was on, the cowl was off--asked the second he appeared on the screen. 

“Tim got kidnapped!” Oracle practically screamed. “Report’s on screen: Man is in his earlier 20’s, armed and dangerous. Broke into the Brindle Manor, attacked Jack and took Tim. Red domino mask, black body-armour. Pushing the amber alert through without waiting on the system. Matches the description of suspected kidnapper in 13519.07 ” 

Batman had pulled on his cowl and ran to the batmobile as Alfred took his place at the computer. The Englishman read the documents coming through and passed them onto the batmobile’s computer. Dick came sprinting down the stairs to get changed, not even stopping to wave. Oracle hacked her way into the batmobile, when she realized Batman was broadcasting from the cowl. 

It took Batman exactly 3 minutes and 7 seconds to reach Brindle Manor, but he sat in the car for an extra 20 seconds to get out of the car. Oracle didn’t comment on the heavy breathing or the whispered, not again. She couldn’t; Batman approached the ambulance where Jack Drake was being interviewed by Detective Allen. 

“Why ‘s he here?” Jack asked, seeing Batman before the detective. “What’s happening to Tim?”

“Mr. Drake, I need to know exactly what happened when Tim was taken,”Batman said, growl still present in his voice. Not good for talking to victims and Oracle would normally call him out on it.

“I just told the police,” Jack seemed a little hysterical. He waved his left arm as his right was in a sling. Detective Allen nodded, but Jack didn’t acknowledge him. “We were in Tim’s room, talking, and this guy came in through the window. He threw a knife at me and told Tim to come over to him and Tim passed out. Then they were just gone.” 

“Official notes list Jack as being in shock, B,” Oracle said after checking the notes the paramedic sent ahead to the hospital. “Better check the scene and get a full interview with him later.”

Batman turned away and started walking inside the manor, followed by Detective Allen. Oracle noticed the immaculate state of the manor home which Tim called home; it looked like a museum. 

“You think this is our guy?” Allen asked. “It seems a little outside his M.O., was seen by an adult and didn’t leave a photo.”

“He matches the description and there is another connection,” Batman answered, grinding his teeth.

“To Robin?” asked Allen as they entered Tim’s room. Oracle made a note to make Alfred never saw the footage of Tim’s room. No need to give the butler a heart attack. 

“Photo just got dropped off at the precinct,” Montoya said, her phone still in her hand. “It’s new though, current Robin uniform and a number 3. Apparently there’s another photo as well, it’s being uploaded now, if your hacker can pull it up.”

Oracle suppressed a smile; it was nice to know that her father hired great detectives. She went into the system and gasped at the second photo. 

“Bruce,” Oracle said, breaking the all-consuming imperative of  _ no names in the field _ , “it’s a photo of Tim, serious injury to the eye with a red felt marker over it. It says ‘Hurry up and solve it, B!’ 

* * *

The first thing Tim became aware of was pain; the inside of his pounding and his eye felt like it was trying to come out of his head. Then Tim remembered what happened. He shot up and opened his eyes and immediately regretted it as the nausea hit and the pain intensified. 

“Shit!” the voice from the previous night swore and gloved hands shoved one of those plastic tubs they have in hospitals into Tim’s arms. Tim heaved, but nothing came up. 

“Shit,” the voice repeated. Tim looked up to see a man or maybe a teenager in a red domino mask standing over him. His hair was black except for the streaks of white throughout the crown of his head. “I’ll hit the lights if you think you won’t fall off the couch?”

“Yeah,” Time croaked and the steadying hand he hadn’t even noticed vanished. Then darkness filled the room and Tim felt the pain lessen. Mind clearer, Tim still couldn’t figure why he wasn’t in a hospital. “Where am I?”

“Easy boy wonder, don’t think too hard or you’ll strain your brain. You’re in my apartment. We’re waiting on B to solve this case for you so that we can get you back to the manor and Alfie can smother you with hot tea and ice packs,” the vigilante said. “And before you ask, I’m trying out the name Phoenix for now.”

“Case? What case are you talking about?” Tim asked, even more confused, but now he was scared. This guy knew about Alfred which meant he knew Bruce was Batman and that was bad. “You kidnapping me and all those other boys is the only case I know of.”

“Kidnapping, rescuing, same difference when someone’s in your situation,” Phoenix said as he pulled out a cigarette. “You are aware that B would take you in, no question, when he finds out your sperm donor’s an abusive bastard, right? Bruce has this thing about adopting poor, little, dark haired boys who are in bad situations.”

Tim was quiet, but the inside of his head was too loud and even in the dark everything was too bright. He couldn’t think straight and couldn’t figure out what this guy’s angle was. Or why he thought Bruce would even want to take Tim in, Bruce was very up front about Tim being his partner, not his kid. More importantly Tim had no clue how this guy knew their identities and wasn’t able to figure out why he seemed so familiar.

“I don’t know why you think I’d need to live with Bruce, unless you killed my dad?” Tim asked warily. “Besides, Bruce doesn’t want another son; he didn’t even want another Robin. I got the job because I wouldn’t go away and Alfred was afraid Bruce would kill himself if he didn’t have someone in the field watching his back.”

Phoenix had been raising his lighter to the cigarette, but abruptly stopped. He shoved both back into his pocket and roughly grabbed Tim’s chin pulling him forward a little. 

“Listen up, kid,” Phoenix said, his breath warm on Tim’s face. “I didn’t kill Jack Drake, but if I was a cop and not a cape, I’d have put two bullets in his chest for what I saw him do to you. That was abuse and he’s been abusing you for the last 2 weeks I’ve been watching you. Today was the first day I saw him touch you, though, so maybe you didn’t realize exactly how bad your situation was. That’ll come later and when it does, Bruce is gonna man up and be there for you.”

Phoenix let go of his face and took a step back. He just stared at him for a minute, then he continued. 

“Batman is supposed to take care of Robin more than Robin takes care of Batman. You’re his partner, but you’re also a kid. For every minute you worry about capes and supervillains, and crime, you should be spending two thinking about school, or girls, or boys, or sports, or gaming and everything else you do and like outside of being Robin.”

* * *

Cassandra was getting frustrated with all the words that were happening. She understood that that was how all the others communicated, but it felt like she was being left behind. She hadn’t been able to explain the graffiti to Stephanie, and now she couldn’t explain to Barbara why Phoenix had taken Tim. Because Cassandra knew; she understood the words for once, but she couldn’t make them understood to the others. 

Tim wore other people’s skin, Cassandra could see the layers. She saw Robin most often, that skin Tim wore over himself most of the time. Sometimes she saw Tim, just Tim, when they were at the cave or the circus or the clocktower. Exactly once she saw Timothy, the armour Tim wore when he was with his father, and she hated it. Jack Drake hurt Tim, it was like how David hurt her and it was wrong. Barbara had taught her that, but Tim said it was fine. 

Phoenix took kids who were hurt; hurt by the people who were supposed to be responsible for them from what Barbara had said and what Cassandra saw on the videos of the victims. Phoenix didn’t take Robin from Batman like Nightwing had said; he took Tim from Jack. Phoenix told Batman to solve it which Cassandra figured meant he wanted Batman to make sure everyone knew what Jack did to Tim. Phoenix had even sent a picture of what Jack did to Tim. So why did everyone else think Phoenix was torturing Tim?

“Stop!” She croaked and finally the others shut up. “Tim hurt. Jack hurt Tim.”

“Cass,” Barbara said. “We know that’s what we’re working on. Phoenix hurt Tim and Jack, so--”

“Wrong! Phoenix help! Tim hurt!” Cassandra shouted. Barbara looked at Nightwing and he looked at her. Cassandra could see them putting together the pieces, Nightwing was hesitant like he didn’t want to believe. Barbara was horrified, she already sort of knew. 

“We need to get Tim’s war journals,” Nightwing said. “We need to be 110% sure that Tim’s being abused because this might just kill B.”

“Is it wrong that I think it’s more likely to kill Jack Drake?” Barbara said the anger written in her tension and her voice. “And I’m more than a little okay with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened.   
> Just to give a little information on Tim's condition, he has a mild concussion, but more seriously is suffering from an orbital fracture. In laymen's terms, Light=Pain and his brain has no filter. Don't worry Phoenix isn't going to let him die in his sleep.
> 
> Please forgive my struggles writing Cassandra; she is one of my all time favorite characters, but writing from the perspective of a person with an insane level of visual input, no internal monologue, and difficulty verbalizing was beyond me. Well written Cassandra Cain is my jam, but I don't think I did her justice. 
> 
> Also: Batman has a No-Kill-Rule; Barbara Gordon ran the Suicide Squad for several years in the comics.


	5. 10:106 Status Secure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sad
> 
> Also I break Batman just little as a treat

Bruce didn’t want it to be true, to believe that Jack Drake had been abusing Tim. And, without his permission, his mind proceeded to point out every single piece of evidence he’d brushed off, ignored, and put aside over the last 2, almost 3 years of knowing Tim. 

It was common knowledge among the Justice League that the current Robin had been neglected by his father. No 12 year old with adequate supervision--or supervision of any kind--could travel the country and yank retired or disconnected heroes back into the fold. But then Tim’s custody had been taken by Bruce as a result of tragedy and things got better. Bruce had been the world’s most insane helicopter parent before Jason had died, and after both Dick and Barbara had reported it only got worse. It had been a whole 6 months before Tim was allowed out into the field with Batman and Bruce had thrown a fit when some of the Leaguers had been requesting Tim’s aid outside of Gotham.

So no one addressed the neglect, save Oliver Queen who cancelled all his company contracts with Drake Industries and pointedly avoided Jack once he recovered enough to start appearing in the wealthy circles again. Oliver was also the only person who had talked to Bruce about it. 

“You need to hear this Bruce,” Oliver stressed at the first business lunch he’d ever set up with Bruce. “because I am slightly less of an asshole than you and I screwed this up with my kid. Neglect bleeds into emotional abuse and I only learned this when I went to a meeting for addict’s parents. Tim is gonna need so much more validation and support than you think, because he’s not going to just know or understand you. Speak as if you’re talking to someone in shock, whenever you’re trying to give him feedback. Do not ignore me, or else we’re going to be able to start our own support group.” 

Bruce hated how much Oliver had been right and just how much he ignored. Barbara and Dick had pulled the reports Bruce had submitted to CPP and the ones Tim’s counselor and social worker had submitted. All of them were clear indicators of emotional abuse, beyond the neglect.

Tim was constantly worried about his behavior until he had confirmation he was doing something right. His counselor had made notes of disassociation and possible depression; Jack was supposed to follow up on that and hadn’t. Tim, before and after he left Bruce’s custody, had abysmal grades and attendance. Barbara had noted that Tim also displayed erratic pendulum between total obedience and complete defiance. 

Four of the major signs for emotional abuse. 4 consistent patterns of behavior that Bruce hadn’t seen, that everyone had taken for granted or in the case of the administrator who signed custody of Tim back to Jack decided wasn’t worth the hassle of fighting a member of the 5%. Oracle had dropped the files to Det.s Montoya and Allen and within an hour, Tim’s newly assigned social worker had just called the manor to ask if Bruce was willing to act as Tim’s emergency Out-of-Home placement. When Batman found Tim, he wasn’t going back to Brindle Manor; he was coming home. 

But Bruce had wanted answers, so here he was standing on the hospital roof trying to figure out what exactly he was going to say to Jack Drake.

“Figured you’d be here.” Batman turned and saw Phoenix step out of the Shadows. He matched the description the boys and Jack had given; a young man in black body armor with a golden bird painted across his chest. But descriptions were generic and Bruce knew that man.

“Jason?”Bruce’s mind went blank; every carefully crafted wall he’d ever built crumbled. He was the master of compartmentalization, but that didn’t matter. Jason’s death had broken him and to see his boy alive was his greatest wish. But this didn’t make any sense, because with the exception of Superman, a literal alien, and Red Tornado, a magical android, people didn’t come back from the dead. 

“In the flesh,” Jason, Bruce’s dead son answered with a smirk. “Not really sure how, but Ra’s miracle water of doom probably had something to do with. Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t already know, I’ve been dropping hints for weeks now.”

“What?” Bruce’s brain was still not working, he was trying to switch to Batman Mode™ but it wasn’t working. Jason laughed and shook his head. 

“Guess things really have changed since I died; you’d have been all over that before, which I guess is a good thing--you learning how to delegate. I’ve been tagging places with “Jason Todd was here” for weeks right after I dropped off one of the kids. By the way they’re all fine,” Jason said. “Better than they were that’s for sure. Seriously B, I thought you said you were going to fix foster care in Gotham.”

Jason continued speaking, but Bruce wasn’t listening. His dead son was lecturing him and it couldn’t be real. Bruce had finally gone insane and was vividly hallucinating, but he couldn’t bring himself to call anyone or do anything to make it stop. It couldn’t be real.

“B?” Nightwing called as he rolled onto the roof. Oh, oh no, Bruce thought. 

* * *

Nightwing couldn’t believe what he was seeing; Bruce was standing there staring at Phoenix listening to him talk. Dick couldn’t believe it. 

“Sup, Dickwad?” Phoenix asked a familiar smirk, that Nightwing couldn’t quite place. That greeting was familiar to almost like

“Jason?”

“Getting tired of repeating myself, but surprise I’m back,” Phoenix, no Jaybird said. “Also I think I broke B.”

“Get over here, both of you,” Bruce demanded, his arms coming up in that awkward, not quite as welcoming as he meant them to be way, that Bruce’s did when he’d wanted to ask for a hug when Dick had been a kid. “I thought I was hallucinating.”

“Yeah, I come over there and you’re gonna sedate me and haul me back to the cave to run all the tests you can think of to confirm I’m the real deal, so pass,” Jason said. Dick was impressed he’d been three steps to Bruce before realizing that was his intention. Jay was good. “How’s ‘bout we swing by my pad first and pick up the Replacement ‘fore we give Alfie a heart attack, ‘Kay?”

With that Jason jumped off the roof, Dick racing after him and Bruce a hair’s breath behind. If it weren’t for Tim’s condition, Dick would have been having the time of his life. Finally they reached the nondescript building at the edge of Coventry. It had apartments on the top floor, a few shops and two take out places on the bottom.

“Did I make it on the search list?” Jay asked a little cocky. 

“No,” Dick answered as B grunted. “Oracle will want to know how you managed to stay under the radar by the way.”

“That what Barbie’s goin’ by these days?” Jay fidgeted a little padlock on the roof access door. “Suits her. You two married yet? I couldn’t find any wedding announcements but I thought the two of you would do the whole Atlantic City Wedding thing, if only piss off B man and the Comiss’.”

“What-no,-we’ wouldn’t” Dick tripped over his words in a rush. 

“Tim’s gone.” Bruce announced out of nowhere, cutting of Dick’s indignant squawking. “GCPD radio has him at headquarters. I need to get back to the Cave then go get him.”

* * *

Tim wanted someone to answer his questions. Anyone at all. But the desk sergeant, Dect. Montoya, even the Commissioner himself wouldn’t tell him anything about his dad. Tim just wanted to know if his dad was okay, if Phoenix had lied and had killed Jack.

“Tim,” a soft looking woman with a tablet and file said in the gentlest voice possible, “My name is Cece Giorando and I’m with Child Protection and Permanency. We need to talk about what happened with your dad.” 

“Is my dad okay?” 

“Your dad is fine, but for right now you can’t see him. Tim, when you were kidnap somethings came to light that-

“I wasn’t abused,” Tim cut her off. 

“Then this placement will only be temporary. But for now, you can’t see your dad while the investigation is in the beginning stages. As things progress, we may be able to set up visitation.” 

Tim curled up and threw the hood up on the red sweatshirt he’d nicked from Phoenix’s apartment. It was too big and Tim was drowning in it. That was fine though because Tim figured it was probably a good metaphor for his life right now. Drowning as a discount Jason Todd, assuming Tim’s theory about who Phoenix really was under that stupid red domino. The social worker was still talking but Tim just kept playing with the hoodie strings and ignoring her. 

“Tim ,” Bruce said as he knelt in front of him. “I’m so sorry. We’ll get through this. I’ve got you.” 

Tim lunged into Bruce and just sobbed.


	6. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nigthwing wanted to Crew Out Cris Allen and I couldn't fit it in anywhere else.  
> Also Please note: Cris is a very well meaning guy. Unfortunately saying a person means well is indicative that he doesn't do well. That said the man backed Montoya through all the comics so he's not without redeeming qualities.

Wrapping up a drug bust that crossed jurisdictional lines and somehow involved the Scarecrow was always fun, Det. Cris Allen thought. Not even acknowledging the strange pissing match that Commissioner Gordon and Captain Robauch were having over a newly ranked detective who wasn’t even there, Cris skirted around to where his partner was talking to Nightwing. 

“Anyway, if you have time to come talk to the kids next week, just give me a call before you show up and I can you at the house,” Renee said just as Cris got into earshot. 

“Always happy to help out,” Nightwing answered. “Phoenix would be willing too, but I understand that there isn’t the same trust there yet. Also if you ever need someone to talk about addiction I can ask Arsenal and he’s usually good for it so long as he can get a sitter.”

“What’s happening?” Cris asked not following the conversation beyond not trusting the new vigilante who’d been kidnapping kids out of the system or abusive homes before reaching an agreement with CPP and Gordon about procedures going forward. 

“Nightwing is going to talk to the youth group at my parish about transitioning out of Juvie,” Renee answered. 

“Oh,” Cris said. “Are you sure that’s a good idea, given your lifestyle? I mean you didn’t exactly re-enter normal society” 

Nightwing was known as the vigilante who smiled and was friendly. But right Cris felt as if the man were made of ice. 

“Piece of advice, Detective Allen?” Nightwing through the most terrifying glaring Cris had ever seen. “Never tell Batman that you think our response to Gotham’s failure to protect its citizens prevents us from being part of society. He’d agree with you, but we’ve all invested a hell of a lot of time in keeping him from quitting the day job.”

“Also, have you ever been in Gotham’s foster care system? Trust me Juvie is the better option most of the time.”

With that Nightwing walked over to his bike and took off. 

“Ha,” Capt Robauch said. “At least I don’t let my detectives treat our vigilantes like shit”

I’m in trouble, Cris thought as he faced a furious commissioner Gordon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this fic. It's not a happy ending, but it's certainly hopeful. Jason's not evil, Tim is living at the Manor, Bruce is working on being a better communicator and Nightwing isn't a caricature. Also: Cassandra Cain is badass. 
> 
> At some point in the future I may write a follow up where Damian joins the family, but who knows. If anyone wants to play with the ideas here, go for it have fun. Just don't write the obligatory "victim confronts the abuser" story arc because while narratively interesting, in reality that often ends terribly.(see I have no evidence to suggest it ever goes well)


End file.
